Archives

This is the archive for January 2011

Downton Abbey

Long life to the Dowager Countess of Grantham. Maggie Smith is awesome.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh my dears. Is it really true? I can't believe it. Last night he looked so well. Of course it *would* happen to a foreigner. It's typical. Lady Mary Crawley: Don't be ridiculous. Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I'm not being ridiculous. No Englishman would *dream* of dying in someone else's house - especially somebody they didn't even know.

Solid surface bathtub (by Kohler)

On long term solitary confinement

On the days of flying backpacks, self lacing shoes and music you can touch, some things never change.

'Human beings are social creatures. We are social not just in the trivial sense that we like company, and not just in the obvious sense that we each depend on others. We are social in a more elemental way: simply to exist as a normal human being requires interaction with other people.

[...]

Among our most benign experiments are those with people who voluntarily isolate themselves for extended periods. Long-distance solo sailors, for instance, commit themselves to months at sea. They face all manner of physical terrors: thrashing storms, fifty-foot waves, leaks, illness. Yet, for many, the single most overwhelming difficulty they report is the “soul-destroying loneliness,” as one sailor called it. Astronauts have to be screened for their ability to tolerate long stretches in tightly confined isolation, and they come to depend on radio and video communications for social contact.'

On quitting wow

And leveling IRL.

'[...]So I quit. I quit hard enough that the way the game had pulled me in the last time wasn't an option anymore. And instead of spending an hour every day doing my daily quests in-game, I spent an hour every day doing "daily quests" in real life - I started working out. I started leveling my actual skills and stats. [...]'